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Vulgar tweets lead to ouster of NHL mediator

It’s been a very rough few months for the National Hockey League. Due to a labor dispute, players have yet to hit the ice nearly two months after the season was set to begin. A recent Twitter kerfuffle isn’t helping matters.

To help solve the labor dispute between league owners and the players, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service appointed mediator Guy Serota. Within hours, NHL fans uncovered Serota’s Twitter account, which prominently featured the hashtag #assmode.

It also included some vulgar tweets directed at various users, including Sarah Silverman. The Atlantic Wire has a great summary of his unfortunate tweets.

Serota was promptly removed from the position to which he had just been appointed, causing the FMCS to issue the following statement:

“Within one hour after I issued a press release announcing that further negotiations between the NHL and NHLPA would be conducted under the auspices of the FMCS, it has been called to my attention that there are issues involving an allegedly hacked Twitter account associated with Commissioner Guy Serota, one of the mediators I assigned. Accordingly, in order to immediately dispel any cloud on the mediation process, and without regard to the merits of the allegations, I have determined to take immediate action, namely to remove Commissioner Serota from this assignment.”

Serota hung onto the “I was hacked” claim, and issued the following tweet yesterday: “This is not how I thought my week would begin. I am ashamed and sorry that I could not be more effective.”